Culturtainment - a new interactive entertainment genre: assessment of Cultural Heritage digital content in leisure software games

European Master in Multimedia and Audiovisual AdministrationOrganized in Brussels with the support of the European Union’s MEDIA II Programme and in co-operation with the University of Metz, the New University of Lisbon, the University of Athens, the University of Paris 8, Kemi-Tornio Polytechnic, the Lapland University

Digital Technologies for the Sustainable Development of the Accessible Underwater Cultural Heritage Sites

In recent years, the development in digital technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) has evolved rapidly. These technologies are currently in the process of creating driving change in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), representing innovative means to share information, facilitating access and increasing the value and public awareness on Cultural and Natural Heritage. This is particularly relevant for underwater environments, where the most interesting cultural and naturalistic sites are accessible only to scuba divers, or not accessible at all, due to depth and/or environmental constraints. In addition, in underwater sites, guided diving tours are carried out by professionals that usually describe the area to be visited during the predive briefings; such step is needed due to the impossibility of underwater verbal communication without dedicated equipment, a practice very rarely adopted for recreational diving. So, these difficulties make it almost impossible to replicate under the sea, the guided tour approach that is usually offered in on-land museums. Considering such limitations, several technological applications are emerging to increase the accessibility underwater and enrich users' experience both for divers and nondivers. This work aims to identify the potential of underwater sites (either cultural or natural) to support the development of sustainable tourism (economic, environmental, cultural and social) in the Mediterranean. Moreover, it focuses on supplying local/regional authorities and stakeholders with a multidisciplinary plan for managing Underwater Museums and Knowledge Centres, by promoting innovation in the diving industry and improving users'/tourists' experience through value-added services and cutting-edge technologies

e-Archeo. A pilot national project to valorize Italian archaeological parks through digital and virtual reality technologies

Commissioned to ALES spa by the Ministry of Culture (MiC), the e-Archeo project was born with the intention of enhancing and promoting knowledge of some Italian archaeological sites with a considerable narrative potential that has not yet been fully expressed. The main principle that guided the choice of the sites and the contents was of illustrating the various cultures and types of settlements present in the Italian territory. Eight sites were chosen, spread across the national territory from north to south, founded by Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians, natives and Romans. e-Archeo has developed multimedia, integrated and multi-channel solutions for various uses and types of audiences, adopting both scientific and narrative and emotional languages. Particular attention was paid to multimedia accessibility, technological sustainability and open science. The e-Archeo project was born from a strong synergy between public entities, research bodies and private industries thanks to the collaboration of MiC and ALES with the CNR ISPC, 10 Italian Universities, 12 Creative Industries and the Italian National Television (RAI). This exceptional and unusual condition made it possible to realise all the project’s high-quality contents and several outputs in only one and a half years

Managing archaeological excavations with an Archeaological Information System (SIDGEIPA)

Se analizan diferentes aspectos del proceso que hemos seguido para desarrollar e implementar un software completamente nuevo para gestionar excavaciones arqueológicas. El software llamado SIDGEIPA (Sistema Distribuido para la Gestión Integrada de excavaciones arqueológicas) incluye diferentes módulos que permiten a los usuarios almacenar datos arqueológicos de diferentes fuentes (excavaciones, prospecciones, literatura científica, colecciones de museos ...) y procesarlos automáticamente para simplificar la investigación arqueológica. Técnicamente, Sidgeipa está construido en código Java, utilizando Postgres como SGBD y con las bibliotecas VTK y GEF para visualizar los datos. La arquitectura cliente-servidor se sustenta en las plataformas Linux y MacOS X. SIDGEIPA se está utilizando para gestionar varias excavaciones en la Península Ibérica desde los primeros asentamientos agrícolas como el del Mas D’Is (Penàguila, Alicante) hasta el Oppidum de la Edad del Hierro del Tos Pelat (Montcada, Valencia). El Sistema de Información Arqueológica (SIA) SIDGEIPA ha sido desarrollado con la idea de automatizar la construcción del diagrama estratigráfico (matriz de Harris) y para modelar reconstrucciones 3D. Tanto los aspectos técnicos como las cuestiones arqueológicas serán presentados y discutidos. Se expondrán ejemplos de la funcionalidad del software, incluidos sistemas de información geográfica, diseño asistido por computadora y gestión de bases de datos. El desarrollo del software ha sido posible gracias a la ayuda financiera del programa FEDER de la Unión Europea como consecuencia de la plena integración de dos proyectos de investigación: el Parque Arqueológico Rural (PAR) que se implementó en los valles de l'Alcoià-El Comtat (Alacant, España) y el Sistema Distribuido para Gestión integral de parques arqueológicos (SIDGEIPA).I discuss different aspects of the process we have followed to develop and implement a completely new software to manage archaeological excavations. The software named SIDGEIPA (Distributed System for Integrated Management of Archaeological excavations) includes different modules allowing users to store archaeological data from different sources (excavation, survey, scientific literature, museum collections...) and to process them automatically in order to simplify archaeological research. Technically Sidgeipa is built in Java code, using Postgres as DBMS and with VTK and GEF libraries to visualize the data. The client -server architectures is sustained by Linux and MacOS X platorms. SIDGEIPA is being used to manage several excavations in the Iberian Peninsula from first agriculturalists sites like the Mas D’Is settlement (Penàguila, Alicante) to the Iron Age Oppidum of Tos Pelat (Montcada, Valencia). The Archaeological Information System (AIS) SIDGEIPA has been developed in the framework of the Harris Matrix and to model 3D reconstructions. Both, technical aspects and archaeological questions will be presented and discussed. Examples of the software functionality will be exposed including Geographical Information Systems, Computes Assisted Design and database management. Development of the software have been possible to financial aid from the FEDER program of the European Union being consequence of the full integration of two research projects the Rural Archaeological Park implemented in the Alcoia-El Comtat valleys (Alacant, Spain) and the Distributed System for Integral Management of Archaeological Parks

How digital innovation can generate revenues for arts and cultural organizations: a survey on Uses and Gratifications

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I nevertheless am a historian : Digital Historical Practice and Malpractice Around Black Confederate Soldiers

I have a good deal of interest in how members of the public who are not academically trained historians do history. For me, then, public history does not mean just projects, programs, and exhibits created by professional historians for the public, but rather the very broad and complex intersection of the public with historical practice. Provision those occupying this intersection with freely available digital tools and platforms, and things become interesting quickly. Because setting up a blog, wiki, or discussion forum means only a few mouse clicks, and archival resources are increasingly digitized, we are seeing a burgeoning of sites that coalesce communities around historical topics of interest. Even those who have no interest in setting up their own websites can participate in history-specific Facebook groups, blogging communities, and genealogy sites. Such digital spaces expand and blur considerably the spectrum of what counts as historical practice. For example, on Ancestry.com, users piece together family histories by synthesizing government records and crowdsourced resources of varying origin and credibility. Professional historians might take an active interest, then, in how digital archival and communication resources affect the spread or containment of particular historical myths.1 It is not clear, however, how these technologies aid academic historians in participating, or impede them from intervening, in these discussions. This chapter uses discourses about black Confederate soldiers to explore how digital technologies are changing who researches and writes history—as well as what authorial roles scholars are playing in the fuzzy edges of historical practice where crowdsourcing and the lay public are creating new research resources and narratives. These digital tools and resources not only are democratizing historical practice, but also providing professional historians with new opportunities and modes for expanding historical literacy

Cultural Heritage Storytelling, Engagement and Management in the Era of Big Data and the Semantic Web

The current Special Issue launched with the aim of further enlightening important CH areas, inviting researchers to submit original/featured multidisciplinary research works related to heritage crowdsourcing, documentation, management, authoring, storytelling, and dissemination. Audience engagement is considered very important at both sites of the CH production–consumption chain (i.e., push and pull ends). At the same time, sustainability factors are placed at the center of the envisioned analysis. A total of eleven (11) contributions were finally published within this Special Issue, enlightening various aspects of contemporary heritage strategies placed in today’s ubiquitous society. The finally published papers are related but not limited to the following multidisciplinary topics:Digital storytelling for cultural heritage;Audience engagement in cultural heritage;Sustainability impact indicators of cultural heritage;Cultural heritage digitization, organization, and management;Collaborative cultural heritage archiving, dissemination, and management;Cultural heritage communication and education for sustainable development;Semantic services of cultural heritage;Big data of cultural heritage;Smart systems for Historical cities – smart cities;Smart systems for cultural heritage sustainability